Chapter Four
If they thought the trek to Revello Drive was hard, then the trek to the vineyard was brutal. Kathryn's worst nightmare, the Turok-Han, had made a grand appearance when it attacked the trio not long after they left the haven of the house. She shouted to her officers to aim for its heart as she blocked its first attack. It had taken multiple high intensity shots as Kathryn diverted its attention by attacking it with her bat'leth, before the phaser fire penetrated its skin and cripple it enough for further shots to incinerate it's heart.
"Damn it, this wasn't part of the agreement!" Kathryn snapped furiously.
"I do not understand." Tuvok said.
"The First Evil exists in every dimension." Kathryn explained. "When it found out that I was from this dimension, it immediately made it known that it intended to destroy this dimension in retaliation for my interference, and without me, the Slayers would never be awakened. Dawn made a deal with it. It would create this world to safeguard the Slayers. The agreement was, while the Slayers were in stasis in the Hellmouth, The First had control of the surface, but it couldn't create anything more than the normal denizens of the town. Modern vampires and minor demons. I have to face off against The First to be able to awaken the Slayers. The Turok-Han are a more primitive form of vampires, and much more powerful. They were not supposed to be allowed here."
"What do you wish to do, Captain?" Tuvok asked.
"We keep moving and stay on guard." She answered, her voice hard as duranium. "I'm not going to let The First win this. If I defeat The First here, not only will I be able to awaken Buffy and the others, but The First will not be allowed to start building its power-base again for a millennium, in any dimension." She continued to explain about the agreement that had been made. "The First was allowed to create the monsters here, so that when the time came, it could absorb the evil energy from them to become temporarily corporeal. It will also use them to maintain it's strength, but with the Turok-Han, it'll be stronger than allowed."
"How do you intend to defeat such an obviously superior power?" Seven asked, a little worried despite herself. Kathryn was her friend.
"It will be a fair fight." Kathryn assured her. "Dawn will make sure of that."
- - - BtVS - - ST:Voyager - - -
Buffy watched them as they fought their way through Sunnydale. She wanted to see the fighting abilities of these two that Kathryn had chosen to fight beside her. As she watched them fight, she idly picked up broken tree branch and dusted a vamp that was trying to sneak up on them. She continued to follow, taking out the occasional vampire, demon or Bringer that were also following.
She studied this new Kathryn. She knew that the Admiral's consciousness was supposed to be transferred into her past, but she didn't expect this. Kathryn had been beautiful when she had come to Sunnydale, even with the age lines around her eyes and mouth and the scattering of grey hair. She wondered how different that body felt from the older one. Were the muscles as firm? Was her ass? She licked her lips with an aroused leer as she studied the anatomy in question, before she realized that her mind had wandered and shook her head to refocus.
When the next Turok-Han attacked, Buffy waited to make sure that it was the only one, then settled to watch Kathryn's companions way of fighting as they were surrounded by the Bringers that had attacked alongside the uber-vamp. The dark-skinned man moved with an almost supernatural speed and strength. The woman was even faster. From the descriptions in previous discussions, Buffy realized that this must be Tuvok, the Vulcan Security Chief and Seven of Nine, the former Borg drone. The woman that Kathryn had loved in her old life. They fought with lethal intent and little comment. Although Buffy was sure that the Slayers could take them if necessary, she was also sure that she wouldn't want these two for enemies. Finally, she smiled proudly as Kathryn finally beheaded the uber-vamp, and quietly followed as they continued moving.
- - - BtVS - - ST:Voyager - - -
The ambush happened just outside the vineyard. If it hadn't been for the sixth sense that Kathryn had developed in Sunnydale, they would have been overrun, but it had been screaming bloody murder at her for the last 10 feet of their trek. Tuvok and Seven naturally took their cues from her, trusting in their Captain as they always had. The recent attacks had been vastly different then the ones before. The movements were completely silent, even to Borg enhanced and Vulcan superior hearing. It had only been the Captain's state of almost paranoid alertness, that gave them that split second of reaction time that may have saved their lives. This time it was two Turok-Han attacking, along with a dozen or so Bringers and modern vampires.
Both of the Turok-Han had started immediately for Kathryn, but Seven snared one's attention by throwing a knife into it's back. With an enraged roar, it turned at leapt at her with a speed that almost caught her off guard, but she was Borg, and Borg were experts at adapting. At the last moment, she sidestepped the attack, grabbing a blade from the sheath at her back and slicing open the creature's side. Before she could follow up, however, the blade was kicked from her hand and she found herself surrounded by Bringers and vampires. She dispatched them as quickly as she could, and turned to see where the Turok-Han had gone, only to see it in hand-to-hand battle with a transparent spirit-like apparition of the blonde from the photograph, Buffy Summers. The longer she fought, the more solid her form became until she grabbed the creature's head and twisted sharply. The sound of its neck snapping was unnaturally loud, but managed to draw the attention of the other creatures that had been attacking. The vampires took one look at the newcomer, and took off as fast as they could. Seven had not seen a reaction like that since her time as a drone. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Tuvok had taken the opportunity to finish off the remaining Bringers and assist the Captain, but she could not take her eyes off the woman before her as she picked up one of the boards that had been smashed off of the vineyard fence, and ram the broken off pointed end deep into the Turok-Han's chest.
After a moment, Kathryn and Tuvok appeared at her side. They watched as the now completely solid Buffy straightened and turned to them. "Hey, Kathryn."
Seven glanced over at Kathryn. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open in astonishment. It was the first time Seven had ever seen the unflappable captain at a complete loss.
"Buffy?" Kathryn said incredulously. "What? How?"
"Well, Dawn is evening the playing field, so to speak." Buffy said as she approached them. "Since The First is cheating, Dawn drew my spirit out of my body to help you. My body is still down there with the others, waiting for you."
By now, the blonde was standing directly in from of Kathryn. Before anyone could react, she closed the distance between herself and her former lover and kissed her with all the passion that had been building since she'd first caught sight of the redhead. Now it was Seven's turn for wide eyes. Tuvok merely watched it all with his customary Vulcan implacability, but even his brow rose when Kathryn moaned into the kiss and captured those blonde tresses in a tight grip to hold her in place. It took a moment, but Kathryn was able to tear herself away, managing to capture Buffy's hand before it got any lower than the base of her spine. The younger woman had always had an amazing fascination with her ass. She whispered something too low for even the enhanced hearing of her officers. Buffy shook her head then, after a small stare down, finally nodded, but the expression on her face told them all that it was only a temporary agreement.
Picking up the bat'leth that she had dropped when Buffy kissed her, Kathryn turned to her officers. "Let's go."
The walk up the vineyard path was blessedly uneventful. Just as they reached the old building, the wooden doors swung open. They approached cautiously, and suddenly, Kathryn had to grab Buffy by the arm and hold her back. Standing in the middle of the room was Kathryn Janeway, a cruel smile on her face and dressed like she had raided Faith's closet. In her hand, however, was Buffy's scythe.
"Well, well, well, Kathryn Janeway." The First Evil sneered. "I've been waiting for you."
Kathryn didn't respond. In Sunnydale, the real one, The First had never used her image, and for the first time, Kathryn realized how unsettling it was to see your own face and know that it hides the greatest evil that ever existed. It had been hard seeing it use Buffy's face, but this was different on so many levels. Her insides were screaming at the wrongness of seeing such malevolence in her own face. At her back, she could feel Buffy nearly vibrating with rage, and idly wondered if it was because The First was using her face, or because The First was using Buffy's scythe. Knowing the Slayer, it was probably the former. She hated it when her enemies used the people that she loved, no matter what the context.
"Nothing to say?" The First taunted. "No matter. Come to me, Mortal. We have business to attend to."
"You know, I wondered why you always reverted back to Buffy's image whenever we confronted you." Kathryn said conversationally. "That is one of the most unnerving things I've ever encountered. Unfortunately for you, it's not THE most unnerving thing. Hell, even Buffy got used to it after the first few times. You need new moves."
She pulled up the bat'leth to block the first, sudden blow, and smiled at successfully goading her doppelganger into making the first move.
Chakotay to Tuvok
Tuvok touch his comm badge. "Tuvok here."
What's going on down there, Tuvok? A fight just appeared on every screen on the ship. It looks like the Captain is fighting herself.
Tuvok's brow rose. "It is... complicated, and I do not know enough to explain it adequately."
We're still not able to get a transporter lock on your signals. Even a skeletal lock isn't working.
"I suspect that you will not succeed until this contest has been decided." Tuvok informed him. "There are many forces at work here. It is all up to the Captain now. We are not allowed to interfere."
The fight was vicious and, in the beginning, it seemed that Kathryn and her evil twin were evenly matched. There were flashes of green and black light whenever the bat'leth and scythe struck each other, reminding Tom of the classic science fiction movies of battles between good and evil that he used to watch with his friends in high school.
Then, it seemed as if the Evil Janeway gained the upper hand, becoming stronger and faster her opponent. Its form began to blur from enhanced speed and each blow it landed to the Captain's body send the Human flying several feet. Tuvok and Seven tried to rush to her aid, but found that they couldn't move too far into the room.
"Help her!" Seven snapped to Buffy, who was standing there watching with grim eyes.
"I can't." Buffy said, her voice dull.
"COMPLY!" Seven snarled.
"I can't!" Buffy turned to her, and Seven took an unconscious step back at the unbridled rage in her eyes. "I wish I could. I want to just as much as you do, but if I interfere, than that would be cheating, and Kathryn would lose."
"But the enemy has already 'cheated'." Tuvok reminded them. "Why should this be any different."
"He's the bad guy." Buffy explained. "His cheating was taken into account when the agreement was made, and had already been attended to. The good guys have to fight with honor, or The First can force a forfeit."
"Please explain the nature of this agreement." Tuvok requested. "Why is the Captain determined that this entity must be stopped."
"Take everything that you know about evil, multiply it by an infinite amount, give it unlimited power and blanket it across every universe and dimension, and you've just imagined The First. In my dimension, the laws of reality aren't quite as set in stone, and someone with the ability and the will can change it. We've got vampires and demons and everything else most people have been taught didn't exist outside of nightmares. Only there can the First gain enough power to become corporeal. Although I don't know if you've had them here." Buffy seemed to consider that for a moment, then dismissed it as unimportant. "Anyway, the deal here. To start regaining its power, it has to be able to manifest in our reality, and to do that, the Balance between Good and Evil has to be seriously upset. This time, it was because my friends brought me back from the dead and ripped me out of heaven. It's one of the few inviolate rules that The First has to abide by but, if The First wins this battle, it can change that rule."
As Buffy spoke, they continued to watch as the Captain managed to land several blows with her weapon before being knocked away again. Even Tuvok flinched slightly as her small form crashed into a support beam. Somehow, though, Kathryn managed to regain her feet and continued to taunt her enemy.
"In addition to that, it will also have the right to kill the Slayers and others that are here, especially me. If Kathryn wins, however, The First will be banished to place where it can see and hear what goes on in each and every dimension, but cannot interact. No matter what imbalances occur, The First won't be able to take advantage for a thousand years. If the council stays on course, by the time The First is free, the Slayer will be more than ready for him."
Suddenly, Buffy fell to one knee. "Damn, Dawn, took you long enough." Her body began to fade before their eyes. She smirked at them. "I told you it had been taken care of."
Then she was gone, and Seven and Tuvok were forced to turn their attention back to the fight. To their astonishment, it seemed as though the Evil Janeway had once again gained the upper hand and managed to knock the Captain's weapon away. The Captain was laid out against the far wall, her hands wrapped around the handle of the scythe, barely managing to keep the weapon from cleaving her head in two.
"Did you really think that you could defeat me?" The First sneered. "I existed before space and time. Before those who 'arranged' this pathetic agreement. Before you were an obscure concept in the grand design. Do you realize who I am?"
"Someone who talks too much." Janeway snarled, shoving the scythe away from her face. She jumped to her feet and struck The First with a roundhouse kick that Seven had seen Buffy do just a short while ago, sending the doppelganger flying into several wine barrels on the other side of the room. Kathryn picked up her bat'leth and twirled it in her hands. "Did you really think The Key would let you get away with cheating like you did? She planned for it, knowing that you wouldn't be able to resist, and now I have the combined power of all the Slayers resting down below us."
For the first time since the fight began, the evil Janeway looked a little worried. Then the fight was truly on, and they were fighting as equal powers. They moved so fast that they blurred, and the only things their spectators could make out were the flashes of black and green lights, the sounds of the weapons striking each other and Kathryn snide remarks and caustic quips accompanied by the Evil Janeway's howls of fury and hate. They fought even faster, until the only way to track the battle was the lights and the appearance of strike marks and body sized holes in the building walls. Suddenly, it was over, and the Captain was standing over her evil twin with her bat'leth in one hand and the scythe in the other.
"You lose." Janeway panted, twirling the scythe in her hand, and plunging the sharpened end deep into The First's heart. With an unearthly scream of pain and rage, The First Evil exploded into shards of black energy and quickly dissipated.